Chapter 125 A Tragedy Caused by a Marriage

The midday sun in midsummer, like a shimmering veil, drifts gently down from the sky.

The eaves outside the courthouse seemed to be separated from the quiet, cold atmosphere inside by an invisible blade.

There's one world outside, and another world inside.

Li Jin stood with his hands behind his back, tilting his head slightly as he glanced at Su Sheng, who was lying on the ground with an arrogant and decisive expression, showing no regard for him whatsoever. A feeling of pity and admiration rose in his heart.

Sadly, he actually "applied what he learned" to do such a foolish thing, tearing apart the compassion that should have been his duty as a doctor.

What's admirable is that this is the first prisoner who has been in the Six Doors for six years and is so arrogant in front of Li Jin.

"That's all?" Li Jin chuckled. "You're quite the smooth talker. You say you'll take responsibility for your actions, but you should at least explain how you did it."

He narrowed his eyes, deliberately provoking him: "Otherwise, how would I know that this matter has nothing to do with Doctor Zheng? How would I know that your wife might be your accomplice?"

Hearing this, Su Sheng snorted disdainfully, looked up, and said to Bai Yu standing to the side, "Hey, come here and help me up."

Seeing the arrogant look on the man's face, Bai Yu crossed his arms, turned his head to the side, and stood still, as if he had etched the word "disdain" into his face.

Li Jin, however, stepped forward and bent down under the surprised gazes of the crowd, personally helping Su Sheng up.

Looking at the Prince of Wei who didn't seem to find anything wrong with him, Su Sheng was stunned for a moment, biting his lip and looking away.

Li Jin took a few steps back, lifted the hem of his robe, sat down on an eight-immortal chair next to the courtroom, and waved his fan: "Let's start from three years ago."

Three years ago, Su Sheng was not yet Wang Guixiang's son-in-law, and Wang Guixiang was not yet Su Sheng's wife, yet he poisoned his future mother-in-law.

If there is any reason, it is that Su Sheng, who was already engaged to Wang Guixiang, has been unable to win her hand in marriage.

“When we got engaged, they didn’t say anything, but when it was time for me to marry them, they started making excuses,” Su Sheng said. “I’m an outsider, and I’ve been an apprentice at the clinic in Tangxia Village for ten years now, earning just over ten taels of silver a month.”

He looked at Li Jin and said, "I've raised the fifty taels of silver for the betrothal gift, and now you want me to build the courtyard first."

A rootless outsider in Tangxia Village, without his own ancestral home, would need at least two hundred taels of silver to acquire a courtyard.

“I’ve already scraped together fifty taels for the betrothal gifts, and I really have no money left.” He looked at Li Jin. “There’s nothing I can do but work hard at my master’s place during the day, so I can start seeing patients sooner and earn more money. When I’m not working, I do whatever’s dirty or tiring in Gui Xiang’s yard, hoping to earn some points for my performance.”

At this point, he took a deep breath, remained silent for a long while, and then sneered, "But it's no use."

Li Jin waved the fan in his hand and said calmly, "So you decided to kill me?"

He knelt in the center of the courtroom, head bowed, looking at the bluestone slab in front of him, and after a long while, he finally uttered a soft "hmm".

“At first, I just wanted to vent my anger and teach him a lesson.” He looked up. “Because I studied medicine, I know some pharmacology and that some drugs are medicine when used in small amounts, but poison when used in large amounts.”

He raised his hand and brushed a stray hair from his forehead: "I've used some medicines that cause vomiting, and some that cause diarrhea."

This seemed to touch a nerve with Su Sheng, causing him to hesitate and waver, unsure of how to begin his next sentence.

"Didn't they suspect you?" Li Jin nudged him when he remained silent for a long time.

Su Sheng nodded, closed his eyes, and bit his lip: "Not only do they not suspect me, they also seek my medical help."

His chest heaved, and he turned his head to look at the guillotine beside the courtroom: "Strangely enough, I actually enjoy this feeling that he needs something from me."

“After that, I would occasionally administer some medicine, and when they begged me to take a look, I would treat them again,” he said. “Until one day, I brought up the matter of marrying Guixiang again.”

"Her father didn't say anything, but her mother brought up the old issue again, saying that the betrothal gifts could be waived, but the courtyard still had to be built first."

At this point, Su Sheng's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he glared fiercely at Li Jin: "After that, while Gui Xiang's mother was injured and looking for me to apply medicine, I administered a strong cardiotonic and emetic drug, a common white milk medicine in the Southern Frontier!"

There was no remorse on his face, nor the exhilarating feeling he had imagined after killing someone; his expression was as calm as a stagnant pool.

But Su Sheng's resentment towards Wang Guixiang's parents, even three years later, is still clearly and unmistakably etched on his face, and is clearly seen by Li Jin and Jin Shu.

He knelt there, brushing the stray hairs from his forehead: "If the matter of the courtyard had been clarified during the engagement, I wouldn't have any complaints. At worst, we could just break up."

“But their last-minute additions make me uncomfortable.” Su Sheng stared straight at Li Jin, expressionless. “It’s not that I don’t have the ability to build a courtyard. Given time, let alone a small courtyard, I could even build my own clinic.”

"But there are people in this world as short-sighted as those two," he sneered.

The fact that he poisoned Su Sheng multiple times without being suspected undoubtedly emboldened Su Sheng.

Looking at him, Li Jin waited a while before asking, "What happened after her mother died?"

Su Sheng took a deep breath and waved his hand impatiently: "What else could happen? I thought that without her mother as an obstacle, the Wang family, which was short of someone, would finally marry off their daughter sooner."

"Ha!" he sneered. "As a result, after her mother died, her father became even more demanding, making me, her fiancé, pay for everything in the house."

"I thought to myself, why not just go all the way and get rid of him too?"

As he said this, he grinned and said, "Anyway, one life is going to lead to death, so having another life won't change anything. Someone as mean-spirited and arrogant as him, getting rid of him is doing justice for Heaven."

When Su Sheng uttered the words "acting on behalf of Heaven," he remained calm and composed, like a tragic hero kneeling beneath the plaque of "a bright mirror hanging high."

This is quite ironic.

Li Jin's hand, which was waving a fan, slowly stopped. The light in his eyes was as cold as frost, which fell on Su Sheng's face: "Acting on behalf of Heaven?"

He laughed mockingly: "Whose mandate are you acting on behalf of? What path are you following?"

"I'm curious, what kind of Heavenly Dao would make you kill two old men and then not even spare a sixteen-year-old boy?"

Su Sheng, however, didn't seem to think he had done anything wrong. He straightened his back and stared directly into Li Jin's eyes: "I raised someone else's son with all my heart, but this son is a complete scoundrel, and I can't even punish him?"

Li Jin was amused by his impassioned speech. Looking at his face, she said sarcastically, "Su Sheng, you really think highly of yourself."